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We just bought pottery from our favorite potter – a baking dish with his distinctive markings and an oil lamp to light our home. The works of his hands are beautiful, but they are even more special to us because we know the man who made them.

I have two paintings on the walls of my house that my daughter produced in her growing-up years. They are beautiful themes creatively presented, and I love them all the more because I know and love the artist.

I look outside my window and see expanses of sky with varieties of clouds touching mountain tops all around me. I see the stream running by and notice the morning birds beginning to perch in the trees. The natural beauty that surrounds me is all the more precious because I know the Creator. And he knows me!

Someone once said, “God didn’t create the world and then say to mankind, ‘Don’t mess it up!'” Instead, he may have said something more like, “Here’s my world. Make it home. Plant flowers, grow food, care for the animals, build places to live and work. And don’t forget to take walks, swim in the lakes, have picnics, stare at the stars, and talk to me all the while you are doing these things. The more you know and love me, the more you will love what I have created. It’s ours to enjoy together!”“

“Indescribable, uncontainable,You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.You are amazing, God.All powerful, untameable,Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaimYou are amazing, God“*

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.– Psalm 145:9

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“I am the Lord; for they shall not be put to shame who wait for, look for, hope for, and expect me.” – Isaiah 49:23b

Do you have a holy place? A place where God seems close? It might be as simple as a familiar chair where you pray every morning or as complex as driving to a church or chapel for an intimate time with him. Wherever it is, do you spend a lot of time hanging out there?

If so, you will understand Joshua. He wasn’t content with a faith delivered through someone else. He wanted to know God personally. So, when Moses went into the tent to meet with God, Joshua waited outside. Then, after Moses went back to the camp, Joshua stayed at the tent, wanting more time in the holy place.

This contrasts with the rest of the people who were afraid of God and asked Moses to represent them and bring messages back so they didn’t have to risk being too close to the all-powerful one. Joshua wanted first-hand experience – he wanted to know God for himself – even if it was risky (Exodus 33:7-11).

We can know God for ourselves, too! The key may be hanging out a little more often and for longer periods of time in the holy place. The place where he is near and has shown himself in the past. He longs to connect to us. We just need to be ready to receive him.

Lord, I want to be like Joshua – staying in your presence so I can be there when you have something to show me or something to say to me. I don’t want to miss you!

“God will lead you, almost without your knowing it, if you will be faithful to come before him quietly.” – Francois Fenelon

My friend, who worked for an art gallery, believed we should surround ourselves with at least a few beautiful things. She was convincing enough to sell me a framed print for my office! There’s something about the beautiful that gives satisfaction and, even, peace.

Is your life beautiful today? Is everything in order? All relationships going smoothly? Are you healthy? Happy? Content in your work? Growing spiritually?

If you answer “yes” to all of those questions, you are most blessed! And most unusual. For the rest of us there are situations, areas of life, concerns that are not at all beautiful. Those are the things we pray about, sometimes get anxious about, and wish there were answers other than the ones we are receiving. And if you’re like me, you work at making things beautiful all by yourself, when, instead, you need an expert. And the expert at making our lives beautiful is none other than God himself.

So if there are areas of our lives that need beautifying, we turn to him, we pray, and we give up trying to control situations by ourselves. In prayer, we learn to trust him even while we wait for him to act. Believing he is at work even when we can’t see anything happening. And, if I read the Bible right, he’s making even the ugly things beautiful. He doesn’s waste our pain, failures, or tears. He weaves them all together into a life that will, in his perfect timing, be beautiful. When it comes to beauty, God is the expert!

“Through prayer we become part of a greater story – the story of what God is doing in our lives, our families, our communities, and around the world.” – Margaret Feinberg

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“. . . in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. – Philippians 4:6b

Do our prayers make a difference? Yes! God hears and responds.

King Hezekiah in an interesting example. The Assyrian army was outside Jerusalem ready to attack. But first they came with threats, hoping the people would surrender. They bragged about all the nations they already had conquered and mocked God saying he was not strong enough to save them.

Hezekiah took those threats before God in prayer, asking that God defend his people for his own glory. Here’s God’s response (through Isaiah, the prophet):

“. . . Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:” (from Isaiah 37:21)

And he promises Sennacherib will be defeated and Hezekiah’s army will not have to lift a finger. The next morning 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were found dead in the camp. The others fled.

Look again at what Isaiah said to Hezekiah: Because you prayed this is what God’s going to do. And he did.

Keep praying! Who knows what happens because you pray? I imagine a scene in heaven when God says to us,

Because you prayed, your child was healed.

Because you prayed, your friend came to know me.

Because you prayed, your soldier came home.

Because you prayed, others learned to pray, too.

How will he finish that sentence for you? You won’t know if you don’t pray. For reasons we’ll never understand fully, God takes our prayers seriously. At least that’s what he told Hezekiah. I think he says the same to us. Our prayers matter!

“The sense of mystery must always be, for mystery means being guided by obedience to Someone Who knows more than I do.” – Oswald Chambers

Do you have someone in your life you love so much you wouldn’t do anything that would cause him/her pain, or sadness, or doubt about your commitment?

I think David felt that way about God. In Psalm 26 he writes about his life of integrity, sincerely telling God to show him if there was something that needed correction. With all his heart, David was trying to do what God wanted and, it seems, he was being quite successful at it!

What made it possible for him to live that way? Verse 3 gives us a hint. David says, “. . . your steadfast love is before my eyes and I walk in your faithfulness.”

This tells us something about the human heart:

Love motivates response.

Faithfulness fosters deep commitment.

Isn’t that true in your relationships? It’s easy to be committed to someone who loves us, is faithful to us, and who looks out for our welfare. But we all know that even the most loving, faithful person can let us down. And others love us only when we make them happy. What we really crave is love that is unconditional.

The surest place to get the kind of love we need is from God himself and he has made that possible by loving us first. When we learn to open ourselves to receiving his love, we find we would not want to do anything that would hurt him. I think that’s where David was. His relationship with God was so important, he would not risk disrupting it by bad behavior. I want that to be true of me, too! Are you with me on that?

“Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.” – G. K. Chesterton

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“Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!” – Psalm 90:12 (MSG)

Most of us don’t wear watches anymore, but not because we’re not concerned about the time. Our phones handle time management for us with a ding 30-minutes before our next appointment and a beep every time we get a new text or email. Who needs a watch when we have a device constantly calling us to pay attention?

There are two Greek words for time. The first is chronos and refers to what we might call “clock time”. Chronos keeps us on the go, always preparing for the next thing, always feeling hurried. That’s the kind of time our beeping phones can help us handle.

Then there is kairos. Kairos refers to a period of time, a season, an era. Kairos asks us to resist responding only to the urgency of chronos and invites us to openness, willingness, patience, and introspection – to an observation of growth, change, or healing. Kairos is the kind of time we need God to help us understand.

How we spend our hours and days is important, but God’s perspective is longer, more patient, more focused on end results. He calls us to peace, not anxiety. He reveals the eternal view, not the temporal. And he never seems to be rushed. That, I think, may be why he calls us to a day of rest every week. A day to re-calibrate our hurry, to trust him with what we didn’t get done, and to allow him to refresh and renew us. We can’t escape clock time, but, by his grace, we can live above it!

“The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become. That’s what you will take into eternity.” – Dallas Willard

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” . . . there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” – Proverbs 18:24b

Some people burst into our lives, make a big splash, and then fade away. There are others who wear well, proving to be consistent, faithful friends. The more we know them, the better we like them. God is like those friends who wear well, making us want to know him better and better over time. How can we do that?

First, we can read and reread the Bible to find out what it reveals about him. This book is the most direct way for us to understand God, his expectations, and his dealings with us and with mankind through history.

Second, we can look at the natural world and discover something about God in what he has created for us to enjoy. I’m not a science person, but when I realized I can know God better if I understand his creation better, I became motivated to read and learn.

Third, we can learn to notice God’s involvement as we look at what’s happening on Planet Earth. The Holy Spirit, living within us, will give us insight. As we become aware of world events and as we face issues in our own lives, he wants us to realize he is in control – nothing happens that takes him by surprise.

Fourth, we can talk to Him constantly. If we just ask, God will reveal his character, his personality, and his will so we can know him better, trust him more, and serve him with commitment.

Let’s keep on getting to know him. He’s a friend who wears well!

For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?” – J.I. Packer

This post is adapted from The GodSense Journey: Exploring Sacred Pathways, Week Eighteen